Former NASA engineer Mark Rober spent the past few weeks building the world’s smallest NERF gun that can actually be fired and quickly realized this was only possible by making it out of one part rather than several. The goal was to first come up with a compliant mechanism, or finding a way to store energy by being flexible.
All of the initial test designs were 3D printed, including one with a zigzag that looked cool, but couldn’t quite store enough energy. Rober ended up choosing the third design, which had longer ribs, thanks to a unique backbone. The next step was to swap out the plastic with a metallic alloy that could store more energy for the same deflection. Last, but not least, the chosen design had to be shrunk down to make it 10-times smaller.
- NERF ELITE 2.0 COMMANDER RD-6 BLASTER WITH 6-DART DRUM: This Elite Nerf blaster has a rotating drum with 6-dart capacity. Blast 6 darts in a row with...
- SLAM FIRE: Launch 1 dart at a time, or unleash all 6 darts in rapid succession with slam fire action. This Nerf pump action dart blaster fires darts...
- INCLUDES 12 NERF ELITE DARTS: Comes with 12 Nerf Elite darts. Load 6 Nerf darts into the drum and keep the remaining 6 darts nearby for quick reloads
